Emergency response center prepares for New Year's Eve

Outfitted with everything from dozens of phone lines for direct communication to University divisions to couches for employees to take a nap, the University's Y2K emergency response center will be prepared to tackle problems, Year 2000 Project Coordinator Gloria Thiele says.

More than 14 University staff members from units including the Department of Public Safety and Information Technology Division will be at the special command center in the DPS building Dec. 31 to monitor the University's transition from 1999 to 2000 in case computers fail to properly recognize the "00" date.

KIMITSU YOGACHI/Daily ITD Network System Consultant Pat Howells monitors the University's network at Arborlakes yesterday in preparation for the Y2K rollover.

The center is equipped with communication devices such as televisions, which will be tuned to CNN and the Weather Channel, computers and hand-held radios. Staff will be making final equipment checks on Dec. 30.

Bess said he and the other members of the University's Y2K emergency response team will not spend the final hours of the millennium playing a waiting game.

"We'll use the time to observe the effects around the world. It will give us things to ponder as (midnight) gets closer to our time zone," Bess said.

"Minutes before, we will be watching carefully and listening to our people in the field," Bess added.

Bess said he expects about 50 percent of DPS staff to be working 12-hour shifts until the crisis period, Dec. 31 through Jan. 4, ends.

Thiele said command center employees will be compensated for their overtime. Thiele said the decision to deactivate the command center functions belongs to Bess and Chief Information Officer Jose-Marie Griffiths.

Earlier this week more than 100 University staff and faculty met to run a table-top scenario of worst case situations, which were created by Architecture and Urban Planning Prof. Jim Snyder, Education graduate student Moira Zellner and Architecture and Urban Planning student Charlie Kaylor.

Kaylor said the teams were presented with challenges such as inclement weather conditions, which could prompt building evacuations and severe auto accidents which would challenge the University Hospitals.

Kaylor said the teams responded with "utmost competence" in handling the situations.

But the test drills also identified areas that need refinement.

"It wasn't perfect," Griffiths said, adding that she appreciated finding a few areas that needed tweaking.

"If it were perfect it would make us complacent," she said.

Thiele said one area that needed minor improvement was the communication flow from the center's executive board to the University's operators who will be commanding the 1-877-UMY2KOK hotline.

Thiele said a smaller meeting is planned for Thursday to test out some of the communication equipment.

Bess said the test-run was very encouraging because it was evident that staff members were "communicating, cooperating and collaborating."

In addition to the command center, the University also plans to eliminate the Medical and Central campus' reliance on Detroit Edison for power by disconnecting from the company on Dec. 30 and running on its own generators. The University's connection with Detroit Edison will be re-established when officials have determined that it is safe to receive power from an outside source.

Thiele recommends students visit the University's Y2K Website www.year2000.umich.edu for a checklist of precautions including having their M-Card on them at all times and deleting as many e-mail messages as possible.

12-10-99